The

Reborn of Art Baroque

Written by Elaine Chau

Looking back to those charming art histories, it is easy to find one of

them to give them a chance to reborn in this modern world. Nowadays,
designers and artists do love finding their inspiration from those old days,
those histories. Out of all of them, there is one particular period always
captures my attention and also those artists attention- Baroque.

Baroque in Paintings

Baroque, which original means the rough and imperfect pearl in French,
this period officially started from 1600 to 1750. Its style is all about the
exaggerated presentation but still in a settle way. In the painting aspect,
most of them are very expressive and seem like telling a story to the
viewers. Compare the baroques paintings with those from Renaissance,
they are definitely livelier for instance, more facial expression and active
body gesture. This closely related to the artists inspiration which is the
story behind the painting. The stories are usually very dramatic and
strong. Some of these stories are from Greek myth and some of them
just came from the daily life. One of the brightest features of Baroque is
that art pieces no longer restricted to be related to religion. The
characters in the artworks arent just Saints but can be nobles or even
ordinary people. The overall style of baroque art is elegant but yet very
alive.



The Abduction of the Daughters of Leucippus from Peter Paul Rubens,
one of the most iconic paintings in the Baroque period can fully explain
its style. The inspiration of this painting is from the Greek myth. The
colors used in this painting are very sharp and eye-catching. The two
women are painted rarely white and this makes a big contrast with the
two men painted to become quite tan looking who are the sons of Zeus.
For the point of view of viewers, we can nearly feel the movement in the
painting by the curved body gesture and spiral composition of the scene.
However, even the characters are all bended and drawn into the centre,
we wont feel that the overall picture is losing balance. This point made
this painting praised as one of the best paintings in the Baroque period.

Baroque In Fashion

But lets come back to 21 century, how do artists and designers take
inspiration from this stately period and combine them to create
something new? When we are talking about the Baroque period in these
days, we can easily think of the fashion and interior design.

The Fall Autumn/Winter collection 2012 of fashion brand Dolce &
Gabbana fully expresses the style of Baroque through the amazing
fashion show. The setting of the show is already full of elements of
Baroque- chandelier surrounded with rose and golden adornments. Back
to the clothing, the designers are greatly inspired by the outfit of the
nobles in Baroque period- the women are dressed very feminine but yet
not totally losing their loftiness. To be more specific, the designers are
particular adored the Sicilian Baroque style. They keep the glamour of
the air of nobles by adding golden and handmade details like necklace,
hair bend and vintage handbag etc on every outfit. But by adding back a
lot of black lace to the outfit tones the glamour down a bit to make it
more modern like. Also one of the biggest features in this collection is
that the designers add some baroque style print on the dresses like rich
still life flowers and Cherub angles.



On the other hand, its official promoting photos are also fairly similar to
the style of Baroque. There are a lot of models in one photo and
everyone is seems like arranged a role like mother, son, grandmother
etc. Compare this series of photos with typical fashion advertisement,
these from Dolce and Gabbanna are more energetic and involved a lot
more movement. The models are no longer just standing still in front of
the camera but they are like acting out a story. This kind of composition
is similar to the usual approach for artists in Baroque period.

Baroque In Interior Design

Baroque style not only influences the fashion designers but also the
interior designers. The unique royal background appeared in most of the
Baroque paintings attract a lot of people. Even if they cant afford high
end fashion clothing, they can still infuse the elements to their living
environment. However, this kind of luxurious interior design is not just
about Baroque but also a slight touch to Rococo. Both of them are very
elegant and sumptuous. For this kind of design is all about those details
like the golden embellishment and vintage wallpaper etc. It is totally
different from any modern and cyber design. The setting of this kind of
design brings people back to the 18 century .We can usually find this
kind of interior design in hotel to let people have to be a royal member
once.

Those art histories are very inspiring and provided a lot of precious
artworks to the artists in these days. It doesnt matter whether we are
really named as artist or not, we can still find some special elements
that we love and appreciate to adapt in our daily life. I am looking
forward to see that more people can learn to cherish these valuable art
pieces created in the past.